Website Maintenance Protection
(Does my site need it?)
Your site is live. What happens next?
Why you might ask? Well keeping your site updated helps in protecting and keeping your website secure. WordPress regularly puts out updates. Most of these updates are for new features and bug fixes. And usually with these updates they also plug security holes if any.
Websites that are not quickly updated when there is security release are open to being hacked. And believe me hackers take full advantage of any security hole.
Hackers are always trying to break into websites – that’s the world we live in. A website owner’s best defense against this, is to keep their website up to date with the latest version. And of course to always have a backup. 🙂 So if you do get hacked, there is no need to panic, restoring the backup will get you up and running again.
WordPress now has an auto-update feature. This feature allows website owners to enable ‘unattended’ updates of their websites.
While this feature is great for small websites that have not been updated for months on end, having auto-updated enabled could be just as detrimental as not updating your site. Read more about the risks involved with unattended auto updates.
Is It for me?
Many website owners feel very comfortable maintaining it on their own. And I say more power to you. If you are one of these people then you are good to go.
However, maintaining a site can take time. Time that can be better served working on your business. Or you may just not have that extra time to give your website the attention that it needs. Or maybe you just don’t want the hassle of maintaining and worrying about your website on a regular basis. If this is you then read on.
How we differ from a managed WordPress site?
Most managed WP sites will keep your WordPress site updated. However they might not update your theme or all the plugins your site uses, especially when there are plugins which do not offer a one click update. And if they encounter a problem while applying a new version they just roll back to the previous version and leave you to figure out what to do next. This also means you are responsible if there are any issues during an update.
Our maintenance package includes the update of WordPress, the theme and all the plugins used. This ensures that the maintenance is truly stressfree. If there are issues with old plugins or themes we attempt to work with the theme/plugin provider to see how we can resolve the issue. As we are designers and developers we understand code. And are able to pin point why something is broken. Many times when there are update issues we have been able to offer a solution or fix to the plugin developer.
Sometimes we even take the decision of not updating to the latest version because we feel the version is not yet stable. Let’s take the example of WordPress version 5.0 which was released just before the Christmas break in 2018. Understanding that this was a new big release, instead of updating immediately we waited a month. By which time WordPress had pushed a few more security and bug fixes.
All this is possible because we are real people (not some automatic process) thinking and analyzing before blindly updating.
“I realized that, the way StressLessWeb was doing the updates, (1) takes more than a couple of minutes, and (2) meant that I would never experience my site being out of commission for a week. So I felt very reassured about my business never being at risk of being impacted by updates.” Teresa, Passion for Law of Attraction
We will never just leave you to fend for yourself.
Our goal is always to go above & beyond and take that extra step to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
There are three things that I really appreciate about working with StressLessWeb.
First, I love your care and attentiveness to even the smallest of details. I never feel like I am bothering you when I send you a question, and you are always clear about what may be needed in any particular situation.
Second, you practice and embody the perfect combination of friendliness and professionalism. You bring to all your interactions a sense of both expertise and humanity that is often lacking in the tech world.
And third, I have felt a great burden lifted from me in not having to maintain our website by myself. I’d feared I’d have to do so for the long haul, as other maintenance services I’d looked into were far beyond our budget. But your services are both affordable and scalable and exactly what we needed and need. I can’t imagine going back to doing it all myself!
Thomas Hitoshi Pruiksma
Cozy Grammar, USA
Our previous maintenance contract did not include the kind of website support we needed. We had an acquaintance design and develop our website for us and he would make necessary changes for us when we asked. When he moved, we weren’t given solid directions on how to provide continued maintenance of the site.
There was not much consistency with previous developers that we dealt with. We would have bugs, etc. fixed on occasion when we asked, but never had someone who was proactive in making sure we didn’t continue to have problems.
A committee member who was familiar with WordPress recommended StressLessWeb.
The only hesitancy we had with choosing StressLessWeb was that fact that it wasn’t local. However, we have been very pleased with our communications with Audrey. She almost always responds the same day and always has a detailed and thorough explanation as to why things are happening and a solution to fix it. Any time that we have ran into an issue with our site, we have found follow up support to be consistent and timely.
We really liked that we were able to get a reduced price for extended maintenance on a pay as you go type basis. This feature enabled us to resolve any pop-up problems that arose.
I would definitely recommend Stress Less Web’s services. They have always been understanding and easy to work with no matter what last minute issues have come about on our website. I am not the most tech savvy person. Audrey is always patient with me and very thorough in her communications so that I come out on the other side knowing more!
Mary Fraser
Assistant Community Manager I’On Community, USA
I used StressLessWeb for the development of my new website.
Audrey and her team had been referred to me with a glowing recommendation. Their general support and maintenance that they provide is second to none. With excellent attention to detail and a very enthusiastic outlook on where they can help further.
A prompt professional and knowledgeable team who have an impressive response rate.
I look forward to using StressLessWeb for all of my online needs going forward.
Ryan O’Reilly
Ryan O’Reilly International, Ireland
Get Peace Of Mind
Here is what our package offers:
- Monthly update of your website. If an update fails or breaks we do not apply that particular update. This ensures that your site never goes down due to an update. Our monthly update includes update of:
- WordPress
- Theme
- Plugins
- Manually update Themes and Plugins which do not have a one-click automatic update feature. There are many premium themes and plugins that can only be updated by downloading the new version from the theme or plugin site. In such cases we go to the relevant site, manually download the latest version and apply the latest update to your site.
- If a theme or plugin breaks your site, we will file a ticket with the respective vendor providing details of the problem. As developers ourselves we are able to provide vendors with technical details of the issue which ensures that bugs get resolved as quickly as possible.
- Monthly external backup of your website. What this means is that every month we take a backup of your website. We also setup a backup routine on your website server to ensure you website is backed up daily and weekly.
- Setup regular malware scans by installing a WordPress security plugin, if not already present. Also set it up so we get email updates from the security scans. And if needed take action on these scans.
- Take immediate action to update the website when there is a security release from WordPress, theme or plugin(s). And make sure the website is not broken after the update.
- Manually review your website on completion of the update to ensure everything is working as expected.
- Provide a monthly status of what was done and any issues encountered. And discuss ways to work out any update issues encountered.
- We do not outsource the maintenance. All work is done in-house by real people. Our goal is to ensure that updates are as smooth as possible without any stress to you.
- We are always here to answer any of your queries or have an website emergency.
How much does it cost?
For our clients where the website is designed by us, the rates start at $24.99 a month with a one year contract. If we have NOT designed your website, no worries we just need to analyze your website before we can give you a quote.
As not all websites are the same—some sites are e-commerce sites, some are membership sites, and some have special premium plugins. The effort required for maintaining and updating a website differs based on its complexity. That is why we need to look at your website before committing to a price. Contact us with the form below to get a no-obligation quote.
An Additional Bonus for On-demand changes
As a bonus of being a Maintenance Client, you can automatically avail of our special hourly rate on our ‘pay-as-you-go’ plan.
Normally when you need us to make changes to your website such as, redesigning a page, adding and/or editing existing content, help in sending out newsletters etc, our hourly rates range from US$90 – US$150.
With our pay-as-you-plan, we offer a much lower, economical hourly rate to our valued clients.
Contact us with the form below to get a no-obligation quote.
Yes! I am interested in the Maintenance Protection
We had no maintenance contract or website support at all. We’d just randomly update our sites when we remembered to do so. And this is considering our entire business depends on the website being up and running. This left a lot of holes in our website and we had a year from hell in 2014. We were hacked repeatedly on all our sites. We wasted a lot of time, money and energy just trying to keep the sites going. To try to fix things while running a business was in hindsight, a really silly thing to do.
Which is why we love the fact that we don’t have to look at anything now. We know that all the websites are looked after, the updates are taken care of and we get a clear notification when this activity has been completed. To have to simply do nothing is a rare kind of blessing. And we have it with StressLessWeb.
Overall, it’s been hard to trust developers. They promise one thing, deliver another. I’ve spent hours, days, even weeks trying to deal with what I can only call “obnoxious” behaviour. I’m very tech-savvy, but the tech world is expansive and yet the behaviour of many developers is to talk down, or completely ignore your requests.
StressLessWeb is exactly what it seems. There’s no talking down, there’s no obnoxious behaviour, but also there’s a clarity of communication. I know that if I ask for something, the pros and cons will be considered and we can move ahead. Even in an emergency (and there are always some emergencies) they work quickly and efficiently. And tirelessly, I might add.
I’m very slow to recommend anything to anyone. Yet, there are some businesses that are a treat to deal with. And StressLessWeb is one of them. Both Audrey and Mangesh put in their years of knowledge and make our experience seamless. Sometimes the best kind of service is unseen, working quietly and getting things done. And that’s what they do consistently. Work with them and you’ll see for yourself. You won’t regret it.
Sean D’Souza
Psychotactics Ltd.
Can I get by with ad-hoc Website updates?
Many people think they can skate through by just updating their site once in awhile. However this just makes it more time consuming and expensive to carry out updates. And don’t forget you are leaving your site vulnerable by not updating regularly.
Just like maintaining that shiny new car, getting regular maintenance for your new website will protect and keep it in top running order.
Not an existing client?
We also do offer our Website Maintenance on websites we have not designed and built. We would just need little more information about your website.
Contact us for more information.